† Holy Resurrection Russian Orthodox Sobor, Vancouver

His Eminence Archbishop Irenée served Vigil on Saturday October 17^thin Holy Resurrection Russian Orthodox Sobor, Vancouver, BC.

On October 18^th His Eminence Archbishop Irenée led the Hierarchical Feast Liturgy.

His Eminence was accompanied by Archbishop Lazar and by Bishop Spyridon of Chicago and Mid-America (Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia).

His Eminence Archbishop Irenée delivered an important sermon for parishioners “Show Love, Kindness and Respect“

In the end of the Liturgy the clergy and all the faithful congratulated the parish rector, Mitred Archpriest Michael Fourik, on his 70th birthday.

After the Liturgy a Festive Performance took place, thoroughly prepared by parishioners and students of the Sunday school.

The parish Sisterhood welcomed Vladyka Irenée and the guests with the lovely Dinner for the Celebration of the Patronal feast Day and Fr. Michael’s Birthday.

Watch at our YouTube channel:

The Full Liturgy Streaming

The Sermon by His Eminence Archbishop Irenée

Patronal Feast Liturgy main moments

The Festive Performance

Patronal Feast Day Dinner and Fr. Michael’s Birthday

Show Love, Kindness and Respect – the sermon by Archbishop Irenée

The Transcript of the sermon

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I’m very happy to be again with you by the grace of God. And to celebrate this anniversary, but also to celebrate the biblical feast of your parish. This parish is one of the first I think, it is the first parish in the city of Vancouver.
It is the place where people have been coming for already 100 years, have been coming to receive the grace, receive the message of Christ. To receive the strength to continue.
 

Life has never been easy, whether it was 100 years ago or for the past 2000 years of Christianity. Life has never been easy for believers.
We are in a world that has this tendency to want to erase us, to make the message of our Lord Jesus Christ disappear. And on the contrary, you have more and more people today who are turning to Christ, who are coming to baptism, even adults from other nationalities, from other religions are converting.
 

Some are coming from horrible places. And young people are discovering the truth, are discovering the faith that is available. That is there for them for their life with their salvation. What makes us different exactly is exactly what our Lord Jesus Christ asked us today in the in the gospel reading.
We have to show love. We must not show anger, must not show hatred towards even our enemies, but we have to love them. When people do harm to us, we must forgive. It’s very easy to love those who love you. It’s very easy to give to bestow good things upon those who do good things to you. But it is not the same when we have people who would wish that we didn’t exist. People who wish that our churches were closed, who wish that the work that we are trying to do would not be accomplished.

In our daily lives, this is also very difficult to love everybody. There are always people that trigger in us and unrightly, too. Trigger in us something negative. We still have to show love to them.
Show them kindness and not hold grudges. How many people come to us and tell us that they hold grudges against people. They judge and we have that’s exactly the opposite of what our Lord asked us to do. If you show love, it’s like a drop of water falling in the lake. We can’t see the waves, but there are this tiny drop which falls in the lake does make a difference in the lake. Even if we don’t see it, the love that we bestow upon those around us and those who love us and those who don’t love us. The love that we bestow upon them, the respect that we show them, the patience that we show them, the kindness that we show them, all this makes a big difference.

And if all of us here in this room start doing that, then all of our society will be blessed. All of our society will make a difference in the world in which we all live. We have to start by ourselves. We have Don’t worry about is like so-and-so doing the same thing. No, you start doing it and be an example. Our Lord said that the world will recognize who we are by the way we love each other.

The way we treat each other. That is the message that I hope will come into all of our hearts. This parish has survived for 100 years because it has shown love. It has shown a place where people can go and receive the strength. We receive the holy sacraments. We receive confession. We receive forgiveness of our sins. We receive holy unction. We receive the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is our life. We prepare for this. All week we should be praying. We should be getting ready for the next time we will receive the body and blood of Christ. That is why we fast. That is why we have morning and evening prayers.

Our whole day, our whole lives should be a prayer. If we do this, then we receive much benefit from the sacraments, from the mysteries of the church. Let us continue in this path. Let us continue to show forth this patience, this love towards each other, and especially towards those who do not know Christ, those who are not searching for him.
They also may recognize Christ in you. Amen.